Why so much “NO”?

Happy Freezing Friday. This morning I am cuddled under a number of blankets and nursing ANOTHER cold.

This week Ruth and I were ruminating (#GoodWord) on why people find it so easy to say no. I was dealing with a vendor and in addition to there being some huge gaps in the teams’ understanding of their roles and responsibilities, there was an awful lot of no-ing going on. I heard these among others:

No, I can’t help you with that, you’ll have to call xyz….
No, we don’t do that, sorry.
No, sorry our system can’t do that.
No, sorry, I can’t do that.
No, you should have done xyz…

The list is endless. In a business world driven on customer satisfaction, why are there so many people saying no to their customers all the time? It almost seems that we are predisposed to say no first! No is easy. it’s fast It takes less work. It defers responsibility to someone else. It is less work. I’m not suggesting that business/individuals do things beyond their offerings or to risk their profitability. I am talking about using language that is more helpful to your customer, and one that creates OPPORTUNITY. Opportunity for future purchases, opportunity to build a reputation of strong customer service, and opportunity to continuously improve every day! I love the context of saying yes to the person and no to the task (read more here).

How to say “Yes!”

That isn’t my area, however, I will contact xyz for you and have them call you back.
We don’t offer that exact service, but we offer something similar. If this still doesn’t work I can refer you to xyz who does!
Our system doesn’t have that particular functionality, unfortunately. Let me see how I can do that in a different way.
Our policies and procedures (attached here) don’t permit me to do that. I understand you are frustrated, I can’t promise anything, but let me make a few calls and see if I can help make this right.
Next time might I recommend doing this, let me help you out in the meantime.

I like Peter Shankman’s idea here, to challenge yourself to say yes to three things this week. See what opportunity comes of it! Let us know @whiteboardcons #justsayyes!

Until next time,

Nicole